THE BUDAPEST AFFAIR

Nia,
Group A

The Event

On February, 19, 2004 Azerbaijan Republic Armed Forces senior lieutenant Ramil Safarov was detained by Budapest police on a charge of murdering Gurgen Margarian, an Armenian officer. Both officers participated at the courses of English language, organized by the Hungarian Defence Ministry of within the framework of the NATO's «Peace Partnership» program.
Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry presented condolences to their Armenian colleagues and family of the victim concerning this event. Ramil's relatives so far cannot believe what actually happened. As they said Ramil had always been self-restrained and steady, in spite of all psychological traumas he had in childhood.

What has actually taken place in Budapest?

Who is Ramil Safarov?

Do you know, what is Azerbaijan like today? Oil-rich Republic?... May be it's a developing country which entered the 21st century with grandiose plans of improving the life standards, wage rise, opening new jobplaces and refugee problem solving?... Or you imagine fertile soils, rich crops, the improbable nature including 9 climatic belts?

Factically, this is just the reverse of the medal called 'Azerbaijan'. The other side is ruins, destroyed houses with shell-broken, cartrige cases scattered around, mine fields, flocks of ravens flyiung over the dead silence... and no people around. This is the picture of the regions where passed the Armenian army leaving behind the incinerated villages, the ground saturated with blood and disaster. Azerbaijan is a country of more than one million displaced people whose lands, hopes and happiness still remain stolen.

Before you start reading this reference, drawing the images and to like the destiny of a young man unfamiliar to many of us who grew here in Azerbaijan, before you try to define your attitude toward the case, we ask you not to regard this as a sort of justification for any act implemented against human life. As nobody cancelled such concepts as «presumption of innocence» so far and no court has plead Ramil Safarov guilty of a crime, we do not apply for his protection or his justification.

But to try to understand what really happened, isn't it necessary to apply to sources?

Armenia, an aggressor state, putting territorial claims over Upper Garabagh ("Nagorno-Karabakh"), initiated the long and bloody conflict with Azerbaijan. Tens of thousands Azerbaijani lives were lost, over 20 % of Azerbaijani lands were occupied by Armenia, one million local residents driven out from their homes became refugees as a result. Azerbaijan was losing from fight to fight to the Armenian cutthroats who secured support of the Russian army. These horrors of war echoing on TV-screens, newspaper listings and our hearts, became an integral part of the childhood of a little boy whose tragical destiny the world could learn now.

Ramil Safarov was born 27 years ago in Jebrail zone of Azerbaijan. Formation of the young man's personality has fallen on one of the hardest periods in Azerbaijan's history. On August 11, 1993 Armenian armed forces attacked Jebrail zone, and on August, 25-26 it was occupied. As a result of occupation 57125 Azerbaijanis including Ramil Safarov's family became refugees. Not only was it childhood, belief, laughter, home, lands that Ramil lost in this war. He also lost some members of his family. As a result of the seizure operation implemented by Armenians some of his relatives were massacred.

They say as a teenager, Ramil risking his life was carrying baskets with domestic batch and sweets to the front line trying to support the Azerbaijani soldiers. His mother Nubar Hasanova worked in the district hospital, and, helping her to nurse the wounded soldiers, Ramil became the casual witness of the terrible bloody truth. He could see death, pain, tears of despair and hopelessness. It is not difficult to imagine what he had to go through during these years and how it affected his psyche.

There are over one million of those like Ramil and his family today in Azerbaijan or to be more correct the very eighth citizen of our country. Today former province inhabitants and villagers being forcedly located in the capital and other cities of our republic, are trying to adapt to another life alien to them. The juvenile offence rates among former inhabitants of Shusha, Aghdam, Lachyn, Fizuli etc. - the Garabagh Azerbaijanis who now grow on the streets of Baku, Sumgait, Gandzha is increasing. And we are not to blame them for that. What today occurs to them is a consequence. These children are the reality of modern Azerbaijan, the future of Azerbaijan and they reflect the truth about Azerbaijan...

The Safarovs family consisting of six persons, today huddles in a single-room appartment of the Azerbaijan State Economic University's hostel in Baku. However, despite hard conditions, absence of sufficient means for normal existence, loss of relatives and property, Ramil Safarov continued studying. He graduated from the Military Liceum after Jamshid Nahchevansky in Baku, and for his successes he was directed to advance the education at Higher Military Educational Institutions of Turkey where he had been studying for eight years. The war was not finished yet, so, after the study Ramil returned to Azerbaijan. It served in the frontier troops on the front line where he had to see the Azerbaijani soldiers and civilians dying shot by the Armenian snipers.

The show on blood a-la Armenienne

Impatient to wait for the verdict of the Budapest court, Armenian mass-media and politicians began hysterical campaign in order to cast slurs upon Azerbaijan and its people. The Armenian mass-media and oficials hardly hide their hatred and rage concerning the Budapest affair. This tragedy was estimated as a direct consequence of hatred infusion policy against Armenian people, and an extremist and militant position of Azerbaijan.

On March 9, four Armenian public organisations - the Yerevan press club, the Helsinki Committee of Armenia, Institute of a civil society and the Caucasian center of peacemaking initiatives have distributed the joint statement in which they express serious concern over irresponsible statements of some Armenian political and public figures, publications in a number of the mass media released recently.

According to the statement, the chairman of the Armenian National Assembly Comission for foreign relations Armen Rustamian as well as the head of Republican party parliamentary fraction Galust Saakian permitted themselves inadmissible generalizations concerning whole Azerbaijani people. Armen Rustamjan had drawn the following conclusion of event: "The Azerbaijanis are genetically incompatible with the Armenians". Do we need to remind, that Adolph Hitler also considered the Jews to be genetically incompatible with aryans.

It is surprising that people who profess the cult of terrorism, dare to cry about so-called "genocide" of Armenians and "Hay-dat". “ The history of the mankind knows only one genocide - the genocide of Jewish people, but we are too proud to arrange cheap buffoonery of this tragedy” - these words of the USA Jewish communities chairman precisely reflect the essence of the situation veiled by the Armenian scandal-mongers today.

What can we say about people who solve their self-invented problems by means of violence, not accepting the methods inherent to a civilized nation? What should we say about the people who named the central street of their capital after Monte Melkonian - an Armenian terrorist killed during military actions in Garabagh? This list can be continued infinitely, it is enough to recollect he hijacking of an air liner by the Lebanese radical terrorist grouping, headed by Acop Acopian, notorious for bloody actions group "Orly" being one of ASALA terrorist organization's divisions, and undermined an air liner at the airport of France, or other pseudo-hero, Martiros Jamgochian "famous" for murdering turkish diplomats and other civilians, who spent 12 years in prison... How about hundreds of similar cutthroats broughrt to the rank of national "heroes" in Armenia?

According to the representative of military academy in Budapest, Gurgen Margarian regularly offended patriotic feelings of Ramil Safarov. According to Hingarian mass-media, the Armenian officer dared to outrage the flaq of the Azerbaijan Republic wiping his boots on it. Such a trick is a criminal offence in Azerbaijan, and the responsibility for such actions are stipulated by clause of the Constitution of the Azerbaijan Republic. As for the internatioal practice such offence is equivalent to insulting the whole nation.

According to the Azerbaijanis who communicated with Armenians at various international actions, especially chauvinistic Armenians serving in the Armenian army enjoy bragging about the 10-day's furloughs given Armenian soldiers for each murdered Azerbaijani.

Need we say more?!

Death is always a tragedy; but unfortunately, apparently the purpose of the Armenian journalists and politicians is to arrange a political show from the death of their compatriot in order to get the maximal benefit before the world community. Though the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is presently in phase of cease-fire (1994-2004), the Azerbaijanis unfortunately have already got used to weekly reports on murders of civil inhabitants by the Armenian soldiers, which lasts till now.

Analysis

Today, when crimes against Azerbaijani people remain unnoticed and unpunished, when villages are destroyed, whole families killed, when in a condition of an cease-fire Azerbaijan remains under a sight of Armenian snipers, one is unwillingly surprised to see the wave of anxiety and the agiotage flashed after notorious event on February, 19, 2004. The great power of propaganda consisting of skill of the enemy to exaggerate, in time to brush away tears and to appeal to world community only in situations favourable, as always, has yielded expected results.

Taking into account the circumstance, that in February of 1992 a genocide in Khojaly was committed by Armenians, it is simple to assume what sort of insult Gurgen Margarian used in connection of another anniversary of this tragedy. This day 12 years ago Armenian armed formations with assistance of Russian's 366th motorized infantry regiment, massacred the town of Khojaly. As a result thousands men have been killed, and the certain figure is not known so far (official figure - 613 person - is based on number of corpses which were managed to be obtained from the place of tragedy). 1275 men became hostages; 150 men missing, 487 men crippled, 76 of which are children.

The insults concerning Azerbaijani people have exhausted Ramil Safarov's patience, and in a condition of temporary insanity he splashed out his hatred for killed relatives and the outraged home on Armenian officer.

And how would an Armenian soldier act?...

We hope the Hungarian court will take into account Ramil's condition and his tragical biography.

P.S. As we have recently learnt from Azerbaijan diaspora of Hungary, Armenian lobby started propaganda in Hungarian mass media. Even photos of Azeri victims slaughtered by Armenians in Khojaly and other towns of Upper Garabagh ("Nagorno-Karabakh") are changed and shown as Armenians'. So they are trying to prove themselves long-suffering victims of "Turkic vandalism".

We appeal to all conscientious people not to fall under influence of premeditated propaganda.